Homeschooling: The Journey Begins

August 2, 2010

First let me explain my kiddos.  CJ is three, counts to 60 and has known and recognizes every letter of the alphabet for more than a year, both capital and lower case.  He does simple addition and subtraction, and understands more than any other toddler I have ever met.  Eliza is two, counts to 40, knows and recognizes every letter of the alphabet, and is already trying to color inside the lines in her coloring books.  I am an unemployed certified teacher with some issues with the local public school system.

This combination has led me over the past year to decide to homeschool my babies.  The local public school will have kindergarten class size of more than 20 next year.  I know what would happen if my kids, who are well behaved and very smart, were in that classroom.  I know what I would do with them, put them in a corner with some books, and some projects, and leave them alone so I can focus on the kids who need me more.  I have done this, and I don't like to admit it.  But this is the problem with public schools.  I WILL NOT let that happen to my kids.  They are so smart, they really need to be challenged.  So we have decided to be a homeschooling family.  My husband is fully supportive of this decision and has decided that when the kids are a little older he will take a large part of the responsibility in teaching them science, since that is his largest interest.

Once I had officially decided I was going to homeschool, I formulated a plan.  Since CJ and Eliza are so smart, and so far ahead I decided to start the first week of August.  So the past couple of months I researched through all my school stuff and found the state requirements for each grade level, and the basic curriculum from two different school systems.  I signed up with a homeschooling organization locally and planned how I would start.  The kids love music and singing, so I integrated that into each day.  The beginning of our journey is more about being conscious of doing activities that create a learning environment rather than just watching television or reading with no purpose.  I wanted the kids to understand that when Mommy is your teacher things are different, when I ask you to try something it is because I want you to learn about it.  We needed to change from activities being kid driven to Mom/Teacher driven.

I started with planning 26 weekdays, of letter of the day.  Today was A.  When the kids got up I had them both find the letter A on CJ's alphabet quilt.  Then we sang "The A says /a/ the A says /a/, every letter makes a sound the A says /a/".  Of course they thought that was great.  Then we drew the letter, capital and lower case in CJ's very plush carpet.  We went into the playroom and I drew the letter on computer paper and they dictated A words to me, to write on their letter "poster" to hang in their playroom.  At breakfast they had to identify the foods that start with the letter A.  Applesauce, big hit.  After breakfast I put shaving cream in their highchair trays so that they could practice making shapes and letters.  Eliza loved playing in the cream, but was not very interested in making any shapes.  CJ was able to make a few lower case a's very well, and one not so great attempt at a capital.  I was thrilled!  Unfortunately he can't stand the feel of the shaving cream, as he does not like to be yucky or dirty unless it is from the sandbox or garden.  Next we cleaned up and went in the yard to find A words, and work in the garden.  We migrated to the shadier front porch where I had set up their easel (which looks like an A from the side!) and they colored on the easel while I read them several books.  They were asked to identify and words that start with A while I read and they did a super job.

By the end of the day though, I realized how difficult A is, since it makes so many more sounds than just a-a-a-apple.  We had some almonds with lunch, and while the kids napped I relaxed a little on facebook and planned what other A activities we could do.  After the kids awoke, I found myself speaking as many a words as possible, and they noticed right away!  We identified body parts, animals, foods, and household items that all start with the letter of the day.  By the time they went to bed at night they were so excited for the second letter B day!

My plan is at the end of the 26 days, right after Z day, we will go to the zoo.  We are going to take a clipboard with the alphabet, and the camera, and we will find and snap a pic of animals for each letter, and the kids can make their own animal alphabet book!  Luckily hubby is helping me with that one!  Next month we are also going to visit Old Sturbridge Village, since they have a special day only open to homeschooling families.  This is going to be an exciting and rocky journey!  Can't wait to see how they do with B!